Americans are paying more in rent

Fewer Americans own their homes and those who rent are paying more for housing than they did one year ago.

Americans are paying more in rent

By Christine Killion

December 30, 2014

Fewer Americans own their homes and those who rent are paying more.

That’s what a study by online real estate marketplace, Zillow, recently found when analyzing data from 2014. This year, 770,000 households became new renters, a 2 percent increase from 2013.

Not only are more Americans turning to rental properties, they’re also spending more. In 2014, American renters spent $20.6 billion more than they did the year before on rent. ZIllow estimated that rents will increase another 3.5 percent next year.

In Philadelphia, renters paid an average of $23 more every month in 2014 than they did a year before, affecting approximately 1.55 million people, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.